The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue or Pleasure?

Open to Debate

Education, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Happiness is a complex emotion and mental state that can be achieved through virtue or pleasure. But should it be for the good of the individual or society? Those in favor of virtue point to the Stoics and the Founding Fathers, saying you should strive for a life of moral virtue and rationality. Those in favor of pleasure say everyone should be able to experience it and define their sources of happiness. Now we debate: The Pursuit of Happiness: Virtue or Pleasure? Arguing Virtue: Jeffrey Rosen, CEO & President of the National Constitution Center; Author of “The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America” Arguing Pleasure: Roger Crisp, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford; Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St. Anne's College, Oxford Nayeema Raza, Journalist at New York Magazine and Vox, is the guest moderator. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. This is open to debate. I'm John Donbett. Hi, everybody. Today, for this episode, my good friend and colleague, Naima Reza, is guest moderating for a fascinating debate exploring the perennial mystery of happiness, that ever-elusive state so many of us seem to be striving for in our lives. These days, it feels like seeking
0:55.4	happiness has become a shared national obsession. There are podcasts to help us be happier. There are
1:01.8	self-help books. Even these days, there are some very popular college classes aimed at helping
1:06.7	students better attain happiness in their lives. And yet for all that effort, we don't seem to be
1:13.1	getting very much happier. Depression levels are at record highs. Loneliness has skyrocketed.
1:18.8	Younger people in particular are reporting pretty dramatic decreases in happiness. So it feels like
1:23.9	this might be a good moment to be reevaluating the very definition of happiness.
1:29.4	So what you're going to hear is a great philosophical and historical reckoning with the concept of happiness.
1:34.4	Naima Reza, as I've mentioned, will be guest moderating.
1:37.0	Now, on to the show.
1:40.1	Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
1:43.0	It's a familiar refrain and a trifecta enshrine in the United States Declaration of Independence.
1:48.7	Three unalienable rights that are endowed to man and secured, were told, by the institution of government.
1:54.6	Yet happiness feels increasingly elusive.
1:57.2	Over a quarter of American adults report having experienced depression.
2:01.8	The Surgeon General has described loneliness as an epidemic. And just weeks ago, the World Happiness Report was
2:06.6	published, ranking more than 140 countries. It was the first time in a dozen years that the
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